Lion Woman's Legacy

A "vivid and engrossing" narrative of one woman's journey from shame and internal conflict to becoming a liberated, confident, and proud lesbian (Kirkus Reviews).

The descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide, Arlene Avakian was raised in America where she could live free. But even with that freedom, she found herself a prisoner of both her family and society, denying her heritage along with her true sexuality.

After marriage and motherhood, Arlene found herself exploring the growing women's lib movement of the 1970s, coming to embrace the strength of her grandmother-known as the Lion Woman-and realizing her full potential and personhood.

Inspired by her passionate feminism and strengthened by a loving lesbian relationship, Avakian recollects and re-examines her personal history and the story of her courageous grandmother, revealing a legacy of radical politics, fierce independence, and a powerful affirmation of ethnic identity in this "extremely readable and often painfully honest book" (Library Journal).

Autorentext

ARLENE VOSKI AVAKIAN is on the women's studies faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. BETTINA APTHEKER is associate professor of women's studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of Tapestries of Life: Women's Work, Women's Consciousness, and the Meaning of Daily Experience.

Klappentext

Arlene Avakian's memoir evokes the quarrels, ambition, prejudice, and courage that shaped her coming of age in a family that immigrated to the United States to escape genocide in Turkey. Inspired by her passionate feminism and strengthened within a loving lesbian relationship, Avakian records and re-examines her personal history, discovering the story of her grandmother, which brings with it a legacy of radical politics and a powerful affirmation of ethnic identity.